Edit: I went back and added a few entries about notable events. Enjoy!

Okay, so sorry I haven't written in a while. Wow. I can't even think back on what all has happened to recount it all now. That's what happens with me, I get in a good writing habit for a while. Then I miss one thing I want to write about but don't have the time so I don't write anything else new thinking I'll get back to writing about that and get back on track.... Then a month goes by and I find myself explaining my absence.

Ahem, that being said, hi. I plan on doing better. I always do. :)

Not a whole lot happened really that was so exciting. More of the same... work, online classes, applying for jobs, and hanging out with Blake. It's crazy to think that the summer is already wrapping up. Wednesday will be my last day at work, and Kathleen is flying up here that night. She hasn't been up here in about 10 years - when she was 7, I guess. So, we're going to spend Thursday and Friday hanging out in DC or seeing whatever she wants to see. This Saturday we're starting the drive home. I'm fairly certain we can do it in 2 days with just one major stop in Nashville. That'll get us home Sunday night, which I'm really looking forward to.

Other than that, I'm just getting details ironed out for my class schedule and housing this fall. I'm excited that I got things moved around so I'll only be taking one class at UCO now, and I'm taking a class with Prof. Smith at OC instead. He's pretty cool, so I'm looking forward to that class for sure now.

I'm also living with Hippie Hanlon and his wife, Elsa, this fall. I really enjoy living in houses as compared to apartments, so I'm looking forward to moving into my room there too. I just need to find out what furniture they have or will have for me - if any. I have some time to get what I need, I just need to know what I need to be on the lookout for.

That's about it for now. Wrapping up another 3 months of my life to move on to the next 3-ish months. I've pretty much mastered the art of juggling how far ahead I can really worry about, but I'm so ready for graduation and having a little more consistency in my life. Of course, that is assuming that when I graduate I find a job that offers more consistency than my life has had these past 4.5 years. I quite literally have not lived in the same place for more than 4 months in 5 years. Maybe I'll get bored with it. I think it'll be a new kind of exciting to have regular activities that I do or places I go to hang out pretty often.

Anyway, I'll write some other time about my dreams of the future. For now I have enough planning and juggling to get me through August to worry about. I'll pick up that dream in September. :)

So, now it's been twice that I've gone to Glen Echo Park for their Friday night Contra Dancing! Lindsay had gone before, and she loved it so I had wanted to go at some point. Finally, Shanna invited me to go with her and some of her friends for a birthday party. I was excited to finally get to go, and now I'm just sad I didn't start going much earlier this summer. I'm pretty sure I would have gone every Friday night if only I had known...

Contra dancing is a lot like square dancing, but instead of 8 people in a square, you have lots of people all in a line. Your partner stays the same throughout the dance, but the other pairs are always changing as you finish a set and begin the next.

This place is so much fun because they are so open to new dancers! If you are new, then you wear a blue button that says "New Dancer" so the more experienced people can ask you to dance and teach you the ropes. And they sure will ask too. Every time one song ended, someone else would walk up and ask if you'd like to dance. The caller would help organize people from the stage and slowly walk through the instructions for the new dance a couple times for everyone to get the hang of it. Then the live band would crank up while the caller keeps calling moves for a few rounds. After a while you get the hang of it, and the caller fades out.

I took some pictures each time, so here are some to recap quickly:




Originally, the plan was for Kathleen and me to start driving home this Friday, but now the plan has changed so we're leaving Saturday morning - just so we can go Contra Dancing at Glen Echo Park. :)

This weekend I went up to Havre de Grace, MD to visit some family. Nana has been flying all around the US it seems recently, seeing old friends and visiting her brother. Since she was up here and not too far away, I drove up on Saturday to see her and all the family in the area I haven't seen in 10 years! It's amazing how quickly time flies by and how much changes, but we just seemed to pick up where we left off immediately.

Kathleen just graduated and is living at home with her mom; Nana's brother, Jim; and his wife, Pat. Jimmy and his wife also showed up, and we all had fun chatting and catching up that afternoon before going out for dinner where Lois and her boyfriend, Scott, met up with us. The restaurant was really nice, especially since we had a whole room to ourselves, so we didn't have to worry about bothering anyone else around us. :) Of course there were pictures being passed and stories of people not present told... 10 years is a lot of time to cover over one meal! Haha! Afterwards, we went back to the house and watched Slumdog Millionaire before crashing for the night.

The next day, some people headed off to Mass while the rest of us watched TV and talked more over breakfast. Most of the family was planning on going to a baseball game in the evening so Phil and his wife showed up too! I think seeing Phil was the biggest change because he's now married, and they have a baby on the way! That was all exciting, and it was nice to meet Erin and get to know her as several of us went out running errands.

I didn't end up going to the game so I could make it home at a decent time, but all our time together was really fun. Definitely if I end up in this area again I will have to go hang out with them again. And if I end up in Texas somewhere I'm going to convince Kathleen and Lois to come visit me!

Nana took a ton of pictures from the weekend, so it's not that I just didn't take any... there were enough cameras going off already. When I get those, I'll come back and update this with a few. :)

UPDATE:: pictures!!